Burning Sun
by AutumnSunLight
Summary: "His smile lit up my world."  What if Bella had kissed Jake in the truck the night after she cliff dived, before Alice showed up?
1. Chapter 1

(Page 376 of _New Moon_)

_Jake pressed his warm cheek against the top of my hair._

_ If I turned my face to the side—if I pressed my lips against his bare shoulder… I knew without a doubt exactly what would follow. It would be very easy. There would be no need for explanations tonight._

_ But could I do it?_

Jake ran one hand up and down my arm comfortingly, unknowing of my internal battle. I smiled as he soothed my doubts away without even realizing it. In my darkest hour, he was my sun. I had nothing to fear from my best friend. I had barely finished processing this thought when my head moved of its own accord, and then my lips were on the dip between his shoulder and neck.

Jake's arms tightened around me as I felt his muscles clench and a gust of breath _whoosh_ out of him. Then his arms loosed, and he gently set me a few inches away from him in the cab. One big hand cradled my face, and his eyes searched mine. "Bells, honey," he sighed. I felt tears threatening, and he must have seen them in the corners of my eyes, because he pulled me close again, tracing patterns on my back. "It's been a long day for everybody. Let's get you in the house and get some rest. We can pick this up tomorrow," his voice was gentle as he stroked my tangled, saltwater and sand encrusted hair.

I suddenly felt sleepy at his words, and nodded along. I had kind of expected him to pounce on me, but this was better, and maybe I needed to give him more credit. Maybe he wasn't just _physically_ older.

He opened the door and jumped out, then turned to lift me down after him. I was halfway out and in his arms when he suddenly stiffened. "Holy _crap!" _he exclaimed, shoving me back into the cab and tumbling in after me.

"Er, Jake," I began, wondering what was going on.

"Bloodsucker," he ground out from between clenched teeth. I started at him in alarm. He was shaking, probably dying to phase, but then he shook himself, shoved the keys back in the ignition and floored the truck back down the drive. "We're going back to the Res. You can spend the night with us, Dad'll take care of Charlie."

"Okay," I agreed as I heard him mutter "Gotta call Sam," to himself.

After a few miles, once his breathing calmed, he reached over for me and I scooted back to his side, tucking myself into his warmth.

Billy rolled out onto the front porch, alerted to our presence by my overly loud truck, almost before Jake had a chance to shut off the engine, his face lined with worry.

Jake didn't wait for me to walk, just swooped me up and bounded up the stairs to his father. "There was a Cold One at Charlie's place," he said, by way of explaining my being there. Billy's eyes widened and Jake nodded, looking shaken instead of enraged now that we were out of the immediate danger zone.

"Bella, I don't know what you've been up to today, but you're filthy. Not that I'm not used to it with this one here," he tried, and failed, to roll over Jake's foot before continuing, "but you can't be comfortable. Why don't you go take a shower while Jake calls Sam? You're safe here," he smiled up at me, although I could see faint tear tracks down his cheeks.

"Thanks Billy, that sounds great," I said, shivering a bit now that I wasn't ensconced in Jacob's heat. I headed back for the bathroom, and expected Jake to turn off into the kitchen, but we passed it and he was still on my heels.

"Wait one sec," he told me as he ducked into his bedroom. I followed curiously and leaned against the door frame. He took up most of the space in his tiny room at this point. He yanked one messy dresser drawer open and closed in a matter of seconds, something balled in his hand, then crouched on the floor and dug through the bottom drawer, finally finding what he was looking for all the way in the back, under who-knows how many layers of seemingly forgotten clothing detritus. "Here," he thrust the bundle out to me, his expression a mixture of shyness and brisk efficiency.

"Er, thanks," I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with it, and he must have seen on my face just how tired and confused I was, because he gently guided me towards the bathroom. "Something to wear after you're clean. Unless you have a change of clothes stashed somewhere I don't know about?" he asked playfully, obviously trying to calm me down, since I was almost hyperventilating at this point with the overload of emotions, sensations and the physical drain of the day.

"Thanks Jake," I said. He nodded, then strode off to the kitchen to call Sam.

"I might have to leave, so if I'm not here when you get out-"

"Your dad doesn't bite, and I'm used to hanging out with mine anyway. Take care of your duties," I smiled, and started to duck back into the bathroom.

"Bells, if I'm not back before you go to bed, sleep in my room and I'll take the couch,"

My head popped back out. "You don't have to do that. I'll be fine on the couch, besides, you're bigger than me," I reasoned, wondering if he could even lay on the couch without his legs hanging off the end.

"You. In. The. Bed," he said firmly, and Billy hollered from somewhere in the house, "Bella, best just give up now. Jake, call Sam already!"

We both grinned sheepishly before doing as we were told.

I stripped and then looked at my underwear in distaste. Something told me Jacob didn't have a spare bra hanging around to loan me like the oversized-for-me but buttery soft tee shirt and obviously several-years-old sweat pants which _did _have a prayer of fitting my frame reasonably well, unlike the shirt. I finally settled on washing them in the sink, although they'd never by dry by the time I'd have to leave the bathroom. As I was rummaging under the sink for a clean towel, however, I ran straight into a beat up hair dryer, probably left over from when Jake's older sisters lived at home.

I plugged it in and left it running on the counter, pointed at my sopping undies, while I quickly cleaned up with the Old Spice body wash in the shower. As I toweled off I wrinkled my nose. Although I liked the smell well enough on the men in my life, I wasn't sure how I felt about smelling like a guy myself. And I was suddenly wondering if Jake would care that I didn't smell all fruity and flowery and girly.

I didn't know why I cared…just that I did.

Except, maybe…

I had finally let him, let _Edward_, go tonight, in realizing that I wanted to give things with Jake a try. He'd been amazing, yes, but then he'd left, and hadn't even let his family say goodbye. Alice and I had become friends, and not only had he abruptly broken up with me and disappeared from my life completely, but he'd also taken one of my closest friends with him, and denied us a goodbye.

I stood in my towel blow drying my underwear, and found myself wondering how much he could have loved me if he'd done all that. Sure, he hadn't killed me, that was _some_ kind of caring, but Carlisle probably had as much to do with it as I did. So he didn't kill me, saved me from another vampire, dragged me to prom, let his family throw me a birthday party and then…_poof_? That was it? It was strange, and it made me rethink how 'in love' he'd been with me.

I decided, as I pulled on the now-dry underwear and Jake's outgrown sweat pants, that I was worried about Jacob suddenly because I had realized I was willing to emotionally invest more into our relationship, but since I'd so grossly misjudged Edward, what's to say I hadn't read Jake all wrong too? I'd become totally dependent on Jacob the last few months, but that had happened by itself, seemingly by accident. This was a choice I was making, and just because he hadn't run me off before didn't mean he wouldn't reject me as a girlfriend at some point. Maybe he really didn't care _quite_ as much as I thought he did. In which case, it would be easier to run him off. Just like I had apparently unknowingly done with Edward.

I peevishly yanked Jake's shirt over my head and attacked my tangled hair with a comb I'd also found under the sink, next to the hair dryer.

When I finally wandered out of the bathroom, Billy was in the living room, bowl of popcorn on his lap, watching a basketball game. "Hey Bella. Feel better?" he asked, peering at me in concern. It really was like having Charlie around.

"Yes, much," I assured him, not bothering to look for Jacob since I assumed the Pack had gone to deal with the vampire.

"Sam needed Jake, he'll be back in a bit. In the meantime, why don't you get something to eat from the kitchen?"

I nodded, and padded into the small, but well stocked, kitchen. I cut up a granny smith apple and fixed some crackers and cheese. "You want anything else while I'm here Billy?" I called into the next room. His grinning face popped around the corner.

"Thanks. Jake never asks," he rolled his eyes, "some more coffee would be nice. I think I'm going to stay up until he's back, and it might be late. I nodded and took the tall mug he held up around the doorframe.

I'd been planning to wait up too, but once I'd eaten my snack, my eyelids became heavier and heavier until the effort to keep them propped open was simply too great.

Next thing I knew a too warm, too large hand was stroking my now-dry hair off my face. I peeled my eyes open to find Jake inches away from my face, hair still wet from the shower. "Hey," I mumbled sleepily, slightly disoriented to not only wake up in someone else's house, but obviously hours later, the room almost pitch black instead of lit by lamps and a basketball game on the T.V.

"Hey," he smiled back. The room was dark, but his smile burned like a sun, my sun, in the faint starlight seeping into the room from the window. That special smile he kept just for me lit up my world, no matter how bad things were. "Dad said you fell asleep before the second quarter of the game," he put on a mock angry face. "I thought I said _you_ in the _bed_," he finished with a growl.

"I wanted to wait up. But I was so tired, and the couch is soft and everything smells like you," I yawned, "and I was comfortable. So I accidentally nodded off," I finished with a sheepish grin.

He nodded, then sniffed. "_You_ smell like me. Well, kinda," he amended.

I gave a nervous grin. "The only thing I could find was Old Spice body wash," I explained. "Do you mind?" I couldn't help asking.

"No, what else were you going to use?"

I shrugged. It had been comforting to have his scent all around me, like he'd been holding me, while he was gone.

He seemed to shake himself out of something, and suddenly looked worried. I bolted upright.

"What's wrong? Is someone hurt? Dead? Did it get away? Jake, tell me! What happened!" the words spilled out of my mouth before I had a chance to sensor them.

"No one's hurt, or dead. It just…ah…wasn't what we were expecting. And it could have been messy." He rubbed the back of his neck.

I looked askance at him, but then ruined the effect by shivering. I guess my body was still trying to deal with today…or was it yesterday, now? Jacob quickly stood, swung me up into his arms and sat down on the sofa, keeping me curled in his warm embrace. He pulled a knitted blanket, I guessed his mom had made it before she passed, and draped it over me. I snuggled into his bare chest, griping an edge of the blanket in one hand and his wrist in the other. He pressed his hand against my face, and I sighed as his warmth seeped into me.

"So," I said after a few moments, "tell me what happened."

I felt his chest expand as he drew a deep breath, then he suddenly sighed. Whatever it was troubled him deeply.

"Ah," he began, "the thing is…."

"What?" I asked, confused. About all I caught out of his stream of quick words was 'blood sucker', but that was hardly a revelation.

"It was the fortune. Teller. Bloodsucker," he repeated, painfully slow. I listened to his heat rate go up and felt his breathing quicken.

"Alice?" I asked, hardly able to believe it.

"Little pixie of a Cold One," Jake said unhappily.

"Yup, that's her," I confirmed, "what happened?"

"She saw you cliff dive, and then nothing. She wanted to make sure you were still alive," Jake finished with a sigh that could have blown an Artic wind to Hawaii.

"Oh," I was silent, thinking. Then I remembered he'd said it could have been messy. "Why would it have been messy?" I asked, curious.

"The Treaty says that we're not to go into each other's territory. Your house, where she was waiting for you, or Charlie, depending, is in the area sectioned off as 'theirs'," he explained.

"Oh, so she could have attacked if she'd wanted," I surmised.

"Yeah, but she didn't. Once we realized it was a Cullen, Sam phased and went to talk to her. But she would only believe me that you were okay," Jacob grinned suddenly, whether at upstaging his alpha or that he was the Bella authority, I wasn't sure. "She understood that we were trying to keep you safe and that was why I brought you back here, but she wants to see you before she…leaves," he said the last word as though it might trigger a bawling fit. And a few months ago, he probably would have been right. But I'd known she wouldn't be here to stay, and while I relished the chance to say a proper goodbye, once I had that closure…

I wasn't sure what would happen. What I did know what that here, with Jake, I felt safe and almost whole. He took care of me, and made me laugh. He'd stood by me through my darkest hours, and helped me into the world of light again. His smile, his laugh, his presence, lit up my world. I nuzzled my face into his hand. He was the brightest burning sun in my universe, the center of my universe.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke confused the next morning. Not as to where I was or how I'd gotten there, but why everything smelled of Jacob, and yet, no Jake. He'd told me the night before that Charlie was with the Clearwater's, and would stay the night on their sofa in case something came up overnight or first thing in the morning. Billy had called and told Charlie I was already at his house, and I was more than welcome to just spend the night, which he had shockingly agreed to.

The last thing I remembered before going to sleep was Jake's eyes, looking down at me on his chest with that warm light in them. He must have tucked me into his bed, under a mountain of blankets, after I fell asleep. And here, among his sheets and pillows, with the smell of him everywhere, I'd slept better than I could ever remember. I felt safe, but I'd felt safe with Edward, and yet my sleep was even more peaceful here, even without Jake.

It was the warmth, I decided, as I stretched luxuriously before slipping out from underneath the blankets and padding to the bathroom. I'd always slept cold, and sharing a bed with Edward, even with him on top of the sheets and fully clothed, inhibited the bone and muscle liquefying warmth I'd just had in Jacob's bed, and always found sitting next to him.

I let out a little shriek when I saw the time on the stove in the kitchen-hours past when I normally woke up, even on a Saturday like today- and Jake came rushing in, front door slamming seconds after he arrived in front of me, not winded in the least, with shorts slipping low on his hips like he'd just yanked them on and no shirt.

"What's wrong?" he was looking all over the kitchen, nostrils flaring, as he searched for a threat. Non-confrontational Cullen's or no, he was still on high-alert from last night.

I smiled sheepishly. "It's later than I thought," I explained.

"And how is that a problem? You don't get enough sleep at it is," he gently reprimanded.

"I was going to make breakfast," I was fully aware that my voice had taken on a bit of a whining quality, "and I have to earn my keep somehow! Plus I just wanted to," I knew that although Jake had probably already eaten, he would almost certainly be more than happy to have a second breakfast.

He grinned. "You can make me…what's that thing between breakfast and lunch Rach was always talking about when Dad and I teased her about eating cereal for lunch?" his face was scrunched up in concentration, and I gave him time to figure it out. "Brunch!" he finally remembered, a huge grin splitting his face. Then something clouded it. "Uh, but the guys know you're here, and I think Quill and Embry might drop by," he confessed, making air quotes to show how casually his friends were planning on coming over to spy on me, "so you might not _want _to get into food. Because once they see it…"

"They're like non-vegetarian vampires in a blood bank?" I threw the metaphor out cheerfully, with a bright grin and he rolled his eyes while nodding.

"I don't mind. Emily made it look fun, anyway," I grinned at him, and started digging around, searching for pancake ingredients. I had just finished measuring out all the ingredients when I felt Jake step closer. I grabbed griddle and got it heating up, and started whisking the batter into a froth.

"_Now_ I see why you like baking," Jacob was grinning at me and I smiled back without knowing why. "You never slip, never act klutzy in the least in the kitchen. You're like a baking ballerina," he smirked, confident that he had me pegged. I shrugged noncommittally. He stepped closer again, and reached his hand out. "You've got pancake mix on your face," he told me cheerfully as he wiped it off.

I thanked him, my mind not a million miles away, but _years_ away. I could see myself padding around our house in his shirts in the years to come. Making breakfast, him wiping flour off my face, and later, food off the faces of children, small human beings that are half me and half him, with bronze skin and fumbling legs, a little girl with his smile and my curly hair.

His breath brushed my face, and I snapped back to the present. His hand was still on my face, the other on my waist, thumb brushing the fabric of his tee shirt. "We need to talk about last night," he said, and I nodded, swaying closer. His stubble scratched my cheek, the sensation pleasant as his breath warmed my ear. I shivered. These were experiences I'd never had with perfect, smooth, cold Edward, and although I hadn't perceived myself to me missing anything with nothing to compare it to, this was infinitely better. It felt right, _natural_. My eyes darted up to Jake's, and I found him studying my face like a man dying of dehydration would look at water, water that he was afraid he was hallucinating. My hands were on his waist, and he wasn't breaking eye contact. The warmth in his eyes was enough to make my knees quake, kitchen or no.

And then the front door thumped open, and male voices called out, "Yo, Jake. Let's go for a run…" the sentence coming out of Quill's mouth trailed off dramatically as he made his eyes go exaggeratedly wide at the sight of us. At the sound of his friends, Jake had moved his hands and hugged me, although he hung on longer than strictly necessary, not that I minded as he held me tightly, like he never wanted to let me go. I caught a quick glance of his oh-so-shocked expression as Jake folded me in his arms.

"Oops, we didn't know you had _company_," Quill made sure to emphasize 'company', as if what he really meant-_we think that your best friend did more than just get some shut eye here last night, and since we actually do _know_ (wink-wink) she's here, we came to gawk_-wasn't obvious enough from the way he was staring at me in Jake's shirt and sweat pants.

Jacob seemed to notice too, because he stepped slightly in front of me after he let me go. Embry waved at me from behind Quill's back, and I smiled at him. I had a feeling Quill had been the mastermind behind this nefarious little plot, not Embry.

Gladder than ever I'd left my bra on overnight, I squeezed Jake's arm and stepped around him, "I was just making pancakes, would you boys like a second breakfast?" I asked sweetly. Quill had the courtesy to look guiltily at Jake and then at me, before seeming to get the wind driven back into his sails and nodding with a smirk, like he'd planned it this way all along…almost. A touch of humility seemed to be mixed in also.

Unlike his pack brother, Embry hesitated, then asked, "Are you sure we're not imposing?"

"Do you ask Emily that every time you crash her house and eat her food?" I inquired, at which Embry shook his head, said "Thank you," and sat down at the table. I'd just poured the first round of pancake batter onto the griddle when Quill spoke up again. "But Emily's a wolf girl, and you're…" he trailed off, and I turned around to see Jacob giving him a look that might even scare Carlisle's friends in Italy who everyone seemed so distrustful of. I heard him hiss, "_Emily_ called her 'The vampire girl', why're you mad at _me_?"

"I _was_ the vampire girl," I said, and Jake spun around so fast I'm suppressed he didn't end up with his head on backwards. "Now I'm Bella, and cooking you food, so be nice," I admonished, not quite ready to call myself a wolf girl, but hoping that that was where I was headed. I certainly didn't think 'vampire girl' fit anymore.

The boys nodded, and were soon occupied with enough pancakes to feed a small army. Although, I suppose, that is what they are. Billy, Jacob told me, was already gone, picked up by Charlie at the crack of dawn to help out with Harry's funeral arrangements. I was surprised that Dad had been here and not said checked in on me, but then, maybe he had and I'd slept through it. Or maybe after hearing about the lack of screaming I'd have in the middle of the night, he'd wanted to let me sleep peacefully as long as possible and hadn't poked his nose in Jake's room.

I'd sat down in my own chair, but Jake had dragged in over so that our seats were more like a bench, and I had found myself instinctively scooting over into his side.

The guys finished eating and were starting to push their chairs back from the table when suddenly they stopped. I glanced up at the lack of noise, and found the boys frozen, being stared down by Jacob. "Thank you, Bella!" they chorused, before taking the plates to the sink. I smiled, and continued eating my food.

"How about that run?" Embry asked Jake, who shook his head.

"I promised the bloodsu-" he cut himself off at my glare. Alice may have been a Cullen, and a vampire, but she had also been one of my best friends. "The pixie wanted to talk to Bella today, and Charlie asked me to hang out with her, since he'd be busy," he explained.

The boys rolled their eyes, but nodded, wandering out with calls of "Catch you later Jake," from Quill and "Thanks again Bella," from Embry.

"So, kitchen clean up and then the pixie?" Jake asked. I nodded, and together we made quick work of the mess. We headed outside, and Jake held out my truck keys to me, abstaining from tossing them in my direction since he knew all that would do would be to force me to dig them out of the pine needles on the ground.

I shook my head, and Jacob grinned at me as he swung in the driver's seat. I was more well-rested than I'd been in a long time, but driving the truck was still a hassle, and Jake got a kick out of it for some reason, so I didn't see why he shouldn't play chauffer.

He sat with both hands on the wheel, giving me my space, as we headed back towards Forks. I sidled over after a few minutes and left my hand facing upwards on the seat between us. It only took Jacob about five seconds to notice it, remove his right hand from the steering wheel and grip my fingers in his own, hanging on like he'd never let go.

I was surprised when we turned down the Cullen's hidden driveway, and Jake must have picked up on it, because he explained, "She told me last night to bring you here. Said she didn't want to be seen around town and didn't feel like going back to Seattle for the night."

"Oh," I peered around, thinking about how different my life had been, how different _I_ had been last time I'd come up this stretch of road. The house looked the same, I thought detachedly as we burst into the clearing surrounding it. Alice was flitting around the porch, just as unchanged as the house, but there was nothing detached about my emotions where she was concerned. I squeaked in happiness, and Jake disentangled his fingers from mine.

"Alice!" I hurtled out of the car, up the path, tripped on the top step and landed in her arms. It was like falling into a stone statue that just happened to have its arms out and pointed in your direction.

"Bella!" she laughed, the sound like a fountain, "you're really okay! I mean, I know the dogs _said_ you were, but you never know with _mutts_," she glared at my truck, and I turned to look too, just in time to see Jacob salute us.

"Bells, I'm gonna go up the road from the stench a bit, I'll be within earshot, just call when you're done," he called from a barely cracked window. I nodded, and he floored the orange beast back down the driveway.

"Wait, what did he mean, stench?" I asked Alice, suddenly confused.

"I don't see what _their_ problem is with us, _we_ smell fine, it's the dogs that stink," she wrinkled her button nose at the thought, then kept it wrinkled as she looked at me. "And you smell just like them," she complained.

"Sorry," I said, sniffing the Jake's shirt. "I had to borrow Jake's clothes since mine were wet and filthy," I explained.

"Oh," she shuddered, then squared her shoulders and continued, "Now, what were you thinking? You're Charlie's whole world, how could you-"

She obviously thought I'd been trying to kill myself. I interrupted her, "No Alice, that's not what happened."

"You didn't jump off a cliff?" she asked suspiciously, eyeing me like I'd just told her that she couldn't see the future.

"Cliff diving, Alice. I saw Jake's friends doing it and thought it looked cool," she arched an eyebrow at me, silently communicating her disapproval. "What did you see?" I asked, and she sighed.

_"I wasn't keeping tabs on you, I swear, Bella. It's just that I'm already attuned to you…when I saw you jumping, I didn't think, I just got on a plane._

_ "I couldn't just do _nothing," she finished brokenly.

I hugged her fiercely, and she embraced me back, but I sensed a hesitancy and pulled back. Her eyes were pitch black.

"Sorry," I backed up a bit for her sake, "I haven't had to think about it for a while," I explained.

She nodded, "Of course."

"So what did you see?" I was curious. Just me jumping shouldn't have been enough to scare her into coming back.

"You jumped, and then you didn't surface. Your future just completely disappeared," she whispered, sounding like gently tinkling windchimes.

"Huh," I mused. "Well, the storm made the currents worse. Jake saved me," I heard a whoop from the trees, and grinned. Alice frowned.

"Honestly Bella. We leave and you take up with the first monster pup you find," she sighed resignedly.

The trees issued an indignant "Hey!" and I giggled.

"He's good for me," I told her. Even now, less than twenty-four hours after my choice, I could see how broken I'd been more clearly. "I was…half dead, after you guys left." Alice looked ashamed, and I smiled quickly at her, "But Jake…he was my friend, and he lit up my dark world. I know it sounds stupid," I admitted, "but he's my sun."

"Hump. It only sounds stupid because he's a dog. What's wrong with a nice, safe human, Bella? Really. Mike Newton always liked you," she reminded me.

Now I wrinkled my nose. "Alice, Mike is sweet, but after Jake, he's just…kind of boring."

Actually, the word _vanilla_ came to mind, but that didn't sound like me at all, and I actually liked the flavor, so I stuck with boring.

"You are far gone," Alice commented. I shrugged, but realized that she was right. And it wasn't Edward I was comparing other guys to, it was Jake.

I grinned again, and Alice sighed. "You know, it still doesn't explain why I couldn't see your future," Alice commented, looking beautifully put out. I'd almost forgotten how pretty they were, even upset.

I shrugged, and she smiled, "It's so wonderful to see you again, I was so sad when we didn't get a chance to say goodbye."

"Yeah," I agreed. "But it's all working out, in the end," I reasoned. Letting Edward go had brightened my outlook, and now I felt like the sky was the limit, as long as I had my best friend by my side.

Alice seemed to pick up on my change and grinned, looking like a tiny, dark-haired pixie of an angel. "Sometimes you have to go through the darkness to reach the sunlight," she nodded sagely. "Goodbye, Bella."

I sighed. I had really missed Alice, more than any of the other Cullen's, besides Edward, although there was a Carlisle and Esme shaped hole, too, and seeing her only to say good bye ten minutes later made me sad.

Then I remembered the boys crowding around the breakfast table just an hour before, and waking up so peaceful today, and the pain eased. I was finally finding right where I was supposed to be, I just had to let myself be happy and settle into this new place in life.

"Bye Alice," I moved to hug her, remembered her thirst, and withdrew.

"Oh, Bella, I'm not letting you go without a hug, thirsty or not," she laughed again, the noise like a bubbling stream, and pulled me in. She scrunched her nose as I stepped back. "But you do stink!" she giggled. I shrugged, and grinned unapologetically.

"Have a lovely life Bella," Alice said, backing away.

"Have a happy eternity Alice," I shot back.

I blinked, and she was gone. "Jake!" I called out into the woods, knowing he could hear me without shouting, but wanting to anyway. I felt giddy. Saying goodbye to Alice was the last piece of the puzzle Edward had left behind. Now I felt like my heart was almost whole again. The fracture marks were still there-the lessons I'd learned, the hardships I'd endured had changed me forever. But thinking about Edward and his family was bittersweet now, not mind numbingly raw.

My truck roared back up the road, and Jake jumped out, worry written all over his face, almost before it had fully stopped. "Are you okay?" he asked, scanning me as if I might start shattering any second.

I grinned. It felt like that was all I was doing today, which felt wrong somehow, with Sue Clearwater planning her husband's funeral, probably with both our fathers. "Yup, I'm good. I need to get home and do some laundry, make Charlie dinner," I told him as we wandered back to the truck.

"Okay," he started it up and reached for my hand. I slide over so that our arms were touching, and closed my eyes for the drive.

Jake followed me inside once I got home, shadowing me as I sorted clothes and slung them into the washing machine, then tailing me into the kitchen while I rooted around in the fridge for something other than pasta and red sauce to make. He finally sat down heavily in a chair as I pulled out a package of ground beef and set it on the counter, plucking a knife from a drawer to open the container with. Jake reached out and caught my hand, deftly plucking the knife out of it and setting it onto the table.

His eyes were warm, but serious and I knew what was coming. He'd ask me what was going on and why I'd kissed him last night, and I'd have to explain again how Edward had changed me, made me more hesitant. Although a few weeks ago, hell, even yesterday, I'd felt like part of my heart would always belong to Edward, deciding to give Jacob an honest chance had dislodged the sensation that he'd forever be a part of me. He'd changed me; I was more jaded now, less naïve and innocent about love. But Jacob made me believe again, made me think that maybe all men wouldn't make promises only to break them at the first sign of trouble.

Because wasn't that what Edward had done? Although he hadn't dashed off after James, at the first threat from _inside_ his family he was gone, vanished from my life like the ghost he would be without Carlisle.

Jake was swallowing in front of me, eyes clouding with the weight and worry of what he wanted to say or ask. Even sitting down the top of his head was at my nose, and I edged closed, leaning my hip against his knee.

"Bells, I-"

The phone rang just as he was beginning, and although I would have ignored it, he jumped a foot, then shot out of his chair and over to the wall.

"Hello, Swan residence," he answered politely, if a bit snappish. "Yeah, I figured you might try to track me down here," he rolled his eyes at the person on the other end of the line. The caller seemed to be doing most of the talking, because Jake only said "Yeah, it went fine, she's alright," and "Okay, I'll be there," before he hung up.

"That was Sam," he told me, putting the corded phone back on the kitchen wall with a little more force than necessary. "I've gotta go, Alpha's orders. There was a leech sighting," I opened my mouth and he cut me off before I had a chance to ask, "Not a Cullen. The red head."

His red-head comment jogged something in my memory, and I suddenly recalled a flame in the water yesterday, right before Jake showed up and saved me. Could Victoria really have been in the water with us?

I relayed the memory to Jake, and he started shaking. "I'm not going to phase, I promise," he said, "You just freaked me out. What if Sam hadn't been there too? What if it had just been you and me and she'd attacked?"

"I know," I said, the idea finally starting to occur to me too. "But he was, and she didn't," I soothed as he walked towards the door.

"I really gotta go," he sounded apologetic, then seemed to remember something. "The pack is going to have a bon fire tonight on First Beach," he said, the lingered in the doorway, hesitancy written all over his face. I felt my own eyebrows scrunching together. Was he telling me so I'd know he wouldn't be available, or because he wanted me to come?

"Just, you know, if you wanted to come…" he trailed off, voice raised at the end in a tentative question.

I opened my mouth to answer him, but he quickly cut me off. "I know you've had a long twenty-four hours, it's no biggie. I just thought I'd let you know," he made to duck out the door.

"Jake, I'll come," I said quickly. He stopped and grinned. "So I'll see you later," I promised, before turning back around. I barely had a chance to wonder what I could do with the ground beef on the top shelf before Jake spun me around, kissed my forehead and then bolted out the door and into the backyard, pulling his shirt off as he went.

_A/N: So, I realized I was so excited and in such a rush to get the first chapter out that I forgot an author's note! Thank you to everyone who has checked this story out, and special thanks to my first four reviewers, Lindseyyy, teamjake216, ladybug82896 and brook330-you guys make me want to keep writing! So, still a little slow, but I'm trying to gradually get them into a good place, _together_, and the build-up is half the fun, right? _

_ The italicized portion of Alice's speech is from page 384 of _New Moon_, and the general direction of the conversation is also inspired by the one they had in the book. Although, since Bella had let the Cullen's go more in my version, she isn't worried about Alice staying, etc. just closure and a goodbye. _

_ Thanks again for reading(especially this really looong a/n, please drop me a review! _


	3. Chapter 3

Billy called and asked if I wanted Jake to come drive me up to the Res. about five minutes before Charlie pulled into the drive at four. I told him I was fine to drive, and would meet Jacob on First Beach. He continued prodding about my health, apparently no one thought it was a good idea to worry Charlie, but Billy was determined to make sure my mental state was sufficiently parentally fretted over.

"Okay Bells," he was still talking about safety when I saw Charlie open his door and head up the walk. "Just remember…"

"I will Billy. I'm honestly feeling a lot better, but Charlie's home, and about to come in, and he's going to want to know who I'm talking to…" I trailed off, hoping Billy would catch my drift.

"Okay. I'll talk to you later. The boys still aren't back yet, but the Emily said the bon fire would start around six or so when she was over at Sue's dropping off a casserole."

"Alright. Thanks for everything," I said warmly as Charlie reached the door, "bye."

"Who was that?" Charlie asked, unbuckling his gun belt.

I thought fast. He'd want to know why Billy had called, since he'd probably just left him less than an hour ago and Jake had been with me most of the day. "Telemarketer," I quickly improvised, then went back to shredding cheese for the cheese burger pie I was making for his dinner.

"I'm sorry about Harry," I told him as he said down heavily at the table. He was still in his uniform from the day before, a night's worth of stubble on his cheeks. Dark circles ringed his eyes, and his hair looked like it had been mused by distraught hands more than once.

"Thanks Bells. I really feel bad for Sue, having to raise those kids on her own now, especially their boy. Seth's only fourteen," he took the coffee I proffered gladly and gulped half of it down before putting the mug on the table. "What're you making?" he asked, peering around me at the pie plate and bowl of grated cheese sitting on the counter.

"Cheese burger pie," I had hoped he'd be able to handle the simple put it in-take it out dish by himself. "Hey Dad, Jake said they were having a bon fire on First Beach tonight, would you be okay here if I go?"

"You're leaving the pie here, right?" he asked, looking at the meat longingly.

"Yes Dad, it's for you. I'm going to stick it in the oven, you just have to take it out when the time beeps," I told him with a grin to match the perked-up look on his face at the prospect of having the whole pie to himself.

"You go and have fun. I'll be fine. I'm better now that I see you," he continued. "Something seems different. I know Jake was helping, but you seem…brighter, all of a sudden," Charlie tilted his head as he looked at me, like a different viewing angle would help him puzzle out the change.

"I guess I just let some things go," I said vaguely, "said goodbye to…" Alice, but I couldn't tell Charlie that, "…the things that were gone forever. And you're right; Jake has helped, more than I can ever say."

"That's good Bells, really good. But, um, why're you wearing a man's shirt?" he eyed me suspiciously. I was about to ask him what he was talking about when I looked down and realized that the incredibly comfortable outfit I was still wearing was actually Jake's. And I couldn't exactly say _I'm wearing Jacob Black's clothes because I went cliff diving in a suicidal attempt to hear my ex-boyfriend's voice and then didn't have a chance to get fresh clothes because said ex-boyfriend's vampire sister was waiting at our house, only Jake didn't know it was her so we left like the hounds of hell were after us._ Yeah, that would go over _really_ well. "Uh, my clothes got kind of dirty yesterday," I cringed at the overly sanitized story, "and I didn't want to sleep in them, so Jake loaned me a shirt and some old sweat pants."

"Oh. Well, that was nice of him," Charlie said gruffly.

"I'm going to go take care of the laundry, get changed so I can throw this into the next load and return them," I told him as I finished sprinkling cheese on the top of his pie and left the room. I could still hear him talking to himself, though. "Such a sweet kid; and _he_ doesn't give her nightmares. Ha! Not a peep, Billy said…_like_ that boy…"

I rolled my eyes at Charlie's ramblings, but I was glad he was thinking about something slightly more cheerful than the death of his friend, for a few minutes, at least.

I'd chosen jeans, boots, a long sleeved tee shirt and a soft flannel shirt that I hoped would keep me warm at the beach, and an hour and a half later grabbed Jacob's clean, folded clothes, and headed downstairs to go back to La Push. "Bye Dad, see you later!"

"Stay as long as you'd like!" he called from the living room in front of the T.V., not a peep about curfew to be heard.

The drive was peaceful, but the scene at the beach was anything but. The boys were wrestling all over the sand, and Emily greeted me with an eye roll. "I'll let Jake tell you what happened, but watch out, they're celebrating, rather rambunctiously," she warned with a fond smile.

"Thanks for the heads up," I started to smile, and abruptly had the wind knocked out of me as a huge arm caught me around my waist and picked me up, spinning me in a quick circle.

"You came," Jake grinned down at me in a fresh black tee shirt and jeans, instead of his normal shorts.

"Of course," I replied, like it was the most natural thing in the world, and it was really starting to feel that way. "Hey, Emily said you guys are celebrating. What happened?"

"Well," Jacob took my hand loosely and wandered down the beach, "we finally cornered the red head away from the water," his smirk told me the rest of the bloodless story.

"No more Victoria? You burned her?" I asked, seeking confirmation. I wanted to make sure once and for all, after what Laurent had told me, that I was no longer hunted.

"No more Victoria," Jake said, his voice leaving me no room for doubt.

"Good," I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn't realized what a burden the fear of being hunted down again had been until I was able to put it down.

But that meant he'd been fighting a vampire, mere hours before. Although he was clearly fine, safe and whole, I was so scared for him I started shaking.

"What's wrong?" Jake asked, sensing the change in my demeanor.

"You could have been hurt! You could have been killed," I shrieked, aware that I was starting to hyperventilate, and not sure what I could do to stop it. My free hand began to run down his arm, his chest, his neck, any body part I could reach without letting him go.

"Honey, I'm fine. My pride is a little wounded," I frowned at him, and he translated my unspoken _why?_, "You don't think I can take a bloodsucker?" he barked a dark chortle, and I saw the dark fire in his eyes. There was no doubt in my mind that he couldn't kill a vampire, but if he got hurt, I didn't know what I'd do, and there was that very real possibility.

"Jake, it's not a matter of you not being _able_ to. I just don't want you to get hurt." What I didn't say was _when you hurt, I hurt._

"Hey," he bumped my shoulder with his. "That's why we have a Pack, and hunt them together. We've got each other's backs, I promise." I nodded, comforted by the idea of Sam, who I'd detested so much such a short time ago, fiercely watching out for Jake.

A few minutes of silence later, Jake dropped my hand, and my fingers chased after it, seeking the comforting warmth. He swung his arm up, and away from me, I assumed, until he settled it around my shoulders. I felt him take a deep breath and only had a moment to think_ here it comes_, before he jumped right in. "Bells, if you want to forget last night ever happened, just say the word. I know it was a hard day for you, and-"

"I don't," I said quickly. I felt Jacob nod, and then his hand on my shoulder started tracing patterns. "But the thing is Jake," I felt him go stiff at 'but', and wrapped my arms around his middle, pressing closer, "I'm not the same girl you dropped a truck off to a year ago."

"Look, I know you don't think you'll ever get over him, but I could be _good_ for you," Jacob pleaded, taking my words the wrong way.

"Jacob, you're better than just 'good'. I've let them go, all of them. It's not a matter of getting over him; he left a hole, and you've healed it. I guess I just held on to Edward," he flinched at his name, "because he was gone, so he couldn't inflict any_ more_ damage. And I know you would never intentionally hurt me, but you're here and you _could,_ Jake, and it scares me. If I lose you, who do I have left to run to?"

"Bella, honey," Jacob unwound his arm from around my shoulder and pulled out of my arms. He stopped and faced me, and twinned the fingers of one of his big hands with mine, then bent down so that his forehead was resting almost on my own, and held my eyes for several long seconds. "I will always do _everything_ in my power to be right here by you. Okay? If I'm not here it's because I'm dead or you've sent me away…and don't expect the latter to work without a long fight. I don't care what it is or when it is, now or in fifty years, I want to _always_ be the one you run to."

I felt tears threatening.

"Honey, do you understand?" Jake asked, tugging me closer.

"Yes," I nodded, and our mouths came another inch closer. We'd walked far enough that the Pack's campfire was just a glow in the distance. Here, on the beach where he'd first told me about the wolves and the Cold Ones, we had almost complete privacy.

My hands raised themselves to clutch at the short hairs on the nap of his neck as I heard him whisper, "Kwop kilawtley," and then he closed the distance between us, barely brushing his lips against mine. He was warm and soft, mouth pliant against my own, as his hands gripping my waist before traveling lightly up my body and then back down again.

The sweet innocence of the first brush of his lips against mine gave way to more incessant kisses as he sucked my bottom lip between his teeth, gently biting down. I gasped, and Jacob took it as permission, slipping his tongue gently into my mouth. My head was spinning with all the new, foreign sensations. Edward had been my only other brush with any kind of physical relationship, and while at the time his cold, unyielding body hadn't bothered me, the painful restraint that always had to be shown still somewhat bearable, _this_ was how it should be. His hands found the small of my back, and pulled me closer still, and I reveled in the warm, soft, gentle, passionate, _alive _feel of him, seemingly seeping into every pore of my skin.

He broke away, with seemingly gargantuan effort, and pressed two soft, chaste kisses onto my raw lips before pulling my head down to his chest.

I appreciated his arms holding me up, because I felt as though my bones had been removed and replaced with molten lava. I felt slow and lazy, totally limp and sated. It was like laying in the sun for hours and hours, only without a sunburn or dehydration.

"We should head back," Jake said after what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes. "They'll already be merciless when we get back," he explained.

"Oh, okay," I said, but made no move to walk back.

"Bells, you gonna walk?" he asked amusedly.

"Eh, I guess," I said languidly.

"Or I could carry you…" from his tone of voice, I didn't think he was expecting to take him up on that offer.

But I did. "If you don't mind," I finally lifted my head from his chest and smiled shyly up at him. The last thirty-six hours were finally catching up to me, as well as the last several, almost sleepless, months, and I suddenly felt so, so tired.

He easily picked me up and started walking back towards the bon fire, carrying like a little girl. I curled a hand around his neck and fisted the other in his tee shirt. The rocking motion of his stride was lulling me to sleep, but I swiftly woke back up when I remembered him saying something right before he kissed me.

"Hey Jake?" I started.

"Yeah Bells?" he sounded about as laidback as I felt.

"What does 'Que quowle' mean?" I attempted to quote him back in what I assumed was Quileute and probably mangled it horribly.

"You mean kwop kilawtley?" he recited perfectly.

"Yes, what does it mean?" I persisted.

"It's a Quileute term of endearment, Bells," he said softly, pulling me closer to his body.

"Oh. That's nice. I like it; kwop kilawtley," I murmured as I sank back into my Jacob-induced stupor.

I woke, still in Jake's arms, in front of the bon fire. The war-whoops of the other boys were obviously what had pulled my tired mind out of dreamland, and I peered around, not moving my head from where it was tucked, in exactly the same place between his neck and should I had kissed barely twenty-four hours before.

I'd hoped if I stayed still enough no one would notice I was awake and I could stay snuggled in his arms with I was fully lucid and could enjoy it, but somehow Jake noticed I was awake and made to let me go. My hands chased after his arms and pulled them back around me. "If you don't mind," I whispered, wondering if perhaps he wanted to go wrestle with his Pack Brothers, although Jared seemed happy enough sitting with his girlfriend Kim across the fire pit.

"Ha. I've wait too long for this to let you go a single second before you want me to," he told me, pulling me even closer. "But maybe you should get something to eat. Emily brought hot dogs and chips," he told me.

"And stuff to make s'mores!" Embry hollered from right behind Jake.

"Jeez, bro. We can all hear you fine," Jake laughed, while I tried to still my racing heart. I had no doubt Jacob had heard him come up behind us, or smelled him, and probably even noticed the big intake of air right before he yelled, but in the dim firelight, with the shadowy shapes of the boys wrestling around, I didn't know who was or wasn't missing. And somehow, my boyfriend's always had better hearing than me.

Huh. Jacob was my…boyfriend? I hadn't really thought about it before. I knew that he wanted _more_ from our relationship than just simple friendship, but he had never used labels to define us. Would he _want_ to be my boyfriend? Or did he just want to kiss me when we hung out?

He was verbally sparring with Embry as I sat and stewed. I pulled myself out of his lap and went to get a hotdog, watching as Quill and Paul almost tumbled into the surf.

"You looked like you were feeling better earlier," Emily said, coming up beside me.

I nodded and stuffed a hotdog onto one of the roasting forks. I wasn't sure where the insecurity was suddenly coming from. Hadn't he just told me, not an hour ago, that he wanted to be the one I ran to, _always_? But was that just in a best-friends-with(-limited)-benefits, or the beginning of something deeper?

"You look worried again," Emily commented gently as she stuck two hot dogs on a roasting fork.

"I'm…not totally sure what Jake wants," I confessed, wondering why it didn't feel strange to open up to Emily. "I know he wants more out of our friendship, I'm just not sure how serious he is…" I trailed off, not sure how to articulate the rest of what I was feeling.

"How serious he is, long term?" Emily guessed, hitting the nail on the head. I smiled embarrassedly. "You know, Sam doesn't talk about what he hears when they're wolves, as a matter of privacy, but sometimes things get intense and he needs to…hash it out. Sometimes he feels like he needs to give one of the guys advice, and wants a second opinion. He doesn't just idly gossip Bella, but I have been privy to a few of the things he's heard. Jake thinking about you is one of them. It's been going on for a while, to the point of distraction, sometimes, especially when you aren't doing well," Emily and I finished cooking our hotdogs and went back to the flatbed of Sam's truck where the condiments were laid out.

"If you want someone other than Jake to tell you how crazy he is about you, talk to Sam. I'll give him a heads up, if you want," Emily offered. I wasn't sure what I thought about talking to the Alpha, but found myself nodding.

We walked back to the bon fire, and Emily held up one hotdog. "I've got an extra!" she called. Jared immediately popped up, snatched it out of her hand, took a huge bite and offered a "Thanks Em," around the meat and bread. Emily winked at me and slipped off to talk to Sam.

I'd just finished my hotdog when he ambled up. Truth be told, he'd always scared me a little, he just looked so _tough_. Hardened would be a good word too. "Emily asked me to talk to you," he said with no preamble, and his face softened as he referenced his girlfriend. He looked like a different man. "If you don't mind walking, the guys will have a harder time listening in," he said, hands in his jean pockets. He had a simple white tee shirt on, and smiled at me reassuringly as I hesitantly sought out Emily's face in the dark. She saw me looking and nodded, eyes flickering to Sam as she smiled. She really was beautiful, no _in spite of her scars_ about it. The love shinning between the Alpha and Emily made them both better people.

Sam sat down after five minute on a piece of driftwood and looked at me. "Emily said you're worried about…the depth of Jake's feelings," he looked awkwardly at me. I smiled sheepishly.

"I don't know how she got it out of me. One minute I was just thinking it, the next she was standing there and I was spilling my guts," I sighed in frustration. It was hard enough to deal with it myself, and now two almost perfect strangers were in the middle of it.

Sam smiled brilliantly at my confession. "That's Emily for you. She's good at listening, likes to help people fix things…she never wants anyone to be in pain," he explained. "About Jacob…if you could see what we've been seeing when we're shifted, you wouldn't have any doubt. When you were bad off, he could barely focus, especially if he'd been away from you for more than a day. It was almost like he'd im-" Sam cut himself off, and I wondered what he'd been about to say. "You got better, and he stopped worrying quite so much, but it was still there.

"And then he started thinking about the future. The last few weeks…" Sam trailed off, and sighed in frustration before continuing. "Bella, it's up to him to tell you all of this. But trust me when I say he's in it for the right reasons, and for the long haul. Emily said that your bloodsucker might be why you're worried about Jake's feelings, even though he's told you himself?" Sam questioned, and I felt my face flame. Was I really that much of an open book? He obviously knew my blush was as close to a confirmation as he was going to get. "Let Jacob prove himself to you. He'll make his own mistakes, I promise you, but the bloodsucker's weaknesses are not his. He knows what he wants, and once he's got it…he won't be doing anything to screw it up."

I nodded once again, I was starting to feel like a bobble-neck doll, and we walked back up the beach. "Thank you," I whispered, and Sam nodded before slipping over to Emily, separate from my arrival. I padded back to Jake and went to sit down next to him, but he yanked me over gently at the last moment and I tumbled onto his lap.

"Hey," he whispered in my ear. "Saw you with Emily."

"Yeah, she's really sweet," I answered, hoping he'd missed me with Sam. I felt silly now, letting my insecurities take over like that. It was nice to have people invalidate them, though, instead of being on the receiving end of pitying looks because I was right. I nuzzled into his chest and watched the flames dance.

"Stay here for the rest of the night?" Jacob asked, sounding hesitant.

"Nowhere else I'd rather be," I told him and he laced his fingers with mine.

_A/N: I almost made this into two chapters, but I suck at cliff hangers…_

_And you guys hate them, right? But they seem like so much fun…maybe I should plan one….muh haha…_

_So, as a quick reminder (since I'd forgotten), Bella doesn't know about imprinting yet (I haven't read _New Moon_ recently, but from my research it seems like she didn't find out until _Eclipse_), so that's why Emily and Kim are 'girlfriends' not 'imprints'._

_What would you guys think about getting into Jake's head and finding out what he was thinking the last twenty-four hours? 75% of my friends are guys, and they do the _**weirdest**_ things, so I love getting into the heads of the guys I'm writing… _

_Lemme know what you think! _

_Xo._


	4. Chapter 4

_Jacob's POV:_

I sat in front of the couch and just watched her sleep peacefully for several long minutes after Dad went to bed before I could bear to wake her up. Today I'd gone from scared silly at her cliff diving to euphoric at her kiss and back to scared again when I smelled leech. And yet, even after all that, she safe and sound, slumbering inches from me.

She sighed in her sleep and turned her head, strands of hair falling across her face, and I couldn't resist. As I smoothed the hair off her face she whimpered, and then blinked her eyes open, mumbling "Hey," while she peered around the room.

"Hey," I couldn't help smiling. She looked so adorable, sleep rumpled and innocent in my house, hours after she'd kissed me. I felt my grin go up a few watts at the thought. "Dad said you fell asleep before the second quarter of the game," I started, and scowled at her, but my smile wouldn't quite go away, and I think it ruined the effect when I growled, "I thought I said _you_ in the _bed._"

She ducked her head. "I wanted to wait up. But I was so tired, and the couch is soft and everything smells like you," she paused as a yawn overcame her, and she half-heartedly lifted a slightly limp hand to cover her mouth. "And I was comfortable." She continued, "So I accidentally nodded off." She smiled sheepishly, and I felt a pull in my gut. I nodded as I swayed towards her slightly, and then sniffed, smelling something on her that I'd missed earlier. But her comment about everything smelling like me had triggered something in my head, and I realized what the displaced scent was.

"_You_ smell like me," I blurted, then mentally smacked myself. That sounded stupid. "Well, kinda," I tacked on. Yeah, that would make it sound less stupid. I needed to think twice and speak once, like when I was cutting something and I measured twice before cut anything.

Her smile was wobbly, and nervous. "The only thing I could find was Old Spice body wash," she told me. "Do you mind?" she looked at me like I might bolt any second.

"No, what else were you going to use?" I asked, confused. And distracted. Her natural scent, that mixture of vanilla and fruity, flowery girl smell that was so completely _Bella_ was mixed with the spicy musk that I recognized as _my_ scent. It was like…like I'd touched her whole body. _Like I marked her_, the wolfish part of my brain offered smugly. I wondered if this was how she would smell ten years from now, after I married her and we had our own house, every morning when we woke up together after-

She shrugged, the movement bringing my attention back to the present, and away from the gutter it had been straying dangerously close to. I shook myself a bit, and then remembered the almost-fight. Bella must have noticed a change in my expression, because she bolted upright.

"What's wrong? Is someone hurt? Dead? Did it get away? Jake, tell me! What happened!" the questions came forth so quickly I might have missed them if not for my wolf hearing.

"No one's hurt, or dead. It just…ah…wasn't what we were expecting. And it could have been messy." I rubbed the back of my neck. It hadn't been pretty I our heads once we realized that the bloodsucker was a Cullen. On their side of the border, she could have attacked if she'd wanted to. But she'd just come to check on Bella, something about a vision and Bella disappearing.

She looked confusedly at me, then shivered. I didn't think, just quickly stood, and picked her up, then sat down on the sofa and pulled a blanket Mom had knitted over her. She curled into my chest as she snuck one cold hand out from under the blanket and tugged my wrist, bringing my hand up to cradle her face. She sighed, and I thought I might burst.

It was a few minutes before she spoke. "So, tell me what happened."

I took a deep breath. What if mentioning the Cullens sent her spiraling again? What if I lost her? I didn't know what I'd do.

"Ah," I began, feeling like I was dictating my own execution order, "the thing is…."

"What?"

"It was the fortune. Teller. Bloodsucker," I repeated, painfully slow. Each word felt like a large butcher knife stabbing into my heart.

"Alice?" she sounded breathless with excitement.

"Little pixie of a Cold One," I answered unhappily.

"Yup, that's her," she said, nodding her head sagely, "what happened?"

"She saw you cliff dive, and then nothing. She wanted to make sure you were still alive." I felt tired, and all used up. Bella mumbled a little "Oh," but was otherwise silent on my chest.

"Why would it have been messy?" she asked suddenly.

"The Treaty says that we're not to go into each other's territory. Your house, where she was waiting for you, or Charlie, depending, is in the area sectioned off as 'theirs'."

"Oh, so she could have attacked if she'd wanted," Bella stated.

"Yeah, but she didn't. Once we realized it was a Cullen, Sam phased and went to talk to her. But she would only believe me that you were okay," I grinned as I recalled Sam's derision at being usurped. But the bloodsucker had acknowledged that _I_ was the one who took care of Bells now. "She understood that we were trying to keep you safe and that was why I brought you back here, but she wants to see you before she…leaves," I was hesitant to mention the tiny leech leaving, after what their departure had done several months before, but Bella was still in my arms, no hint of panic, although I would practically hear the wheels clicking in her head. Her breathing remained even, her heart rate steady. She merely nuzzled her face into my hand and snuggled closer to me. Soon she was asleep, and I tucked her into my bed, then walked back to the sofa with gargantuan effort and spent the night alternating between comfort in knowing that she was so close, and not having nightmares, and frustration at not having her in my arms.

I thought Saturday would never end. First I had to take her to see the little pixie fortune teller leech, which I thought might just undo her, then, against every instinct screaming at me to stay, leave her and go hunt down the red headed bloodsucker. Sure, the thrill of the hunt was nice, and the ecstasy of actually getting to _kill_ one of the unnatural creatures was great, but by the time I showered, dressed and hit the beach with the rest of the pack, I just wanted to see Bella again.

As I wrestled with my pack brothers, my mind wandered back to that morning, and finding Bella, soft and sleepy-eyed in my shirt, standing in the kitchen. Then watching her deftly measure and pour and…she'd almost undone me. I'd seen my hand on her face, wiping away that white powdery stuff, more times than I could count today. Somehow my other hand had ended up at her waist…my shirt _never_ felt that good when I wore it. She was more relaxed than I'd ever seen her, leaning up against my sink, staring up at me with open eyes. I'd almost kissed her right then, but pulled up. We needed to talk, before I just jumped into something blindly, no matter how tempting it was.

And then the guys had shown up, and I'd lost my chance anyway. Why did Quill have to be so obnoxious? For Pete's sake, _my_ Bella is feeding _him_, and he calls her a freaking vampire girl?

I threw myself more wholeheartedly into the fight, then take a punch to the gut as I remembered her response.

_ "I was the vampire girl." I heard her say, and felt my head whip towards her. Where is she going with this? "Now I'm Bella, and cooking you food, so be nice," she finished, and I deflated just a little. I knew it was too much, too soon, to hope for her to brand herself as a wolf girl like Emily and Kim did, and at least she saw herself as separate from the leeches now. But still…she was _mine_. I couldn't imagine my life without her in it. Did she feel the same way? She didn't seem fazed as she bustled around the kitchen, and all I could think was _I hope I get to watch her make breakfast for the rest of my life.

Several minutes later, my head jerked up, mid-tussle, and my eyes immediately found Bella. I bolted from the guys and picked her up, spinning her around. "You came," I grinned. Not that I had really doubted her, but it still thrilled me to see her here, for _me_.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course. Hey, Emily said you guys were celebrating. What happened?"

"Well," I laced my fingers through hers and led her down the beach, where the guys wouldn't be able to eavesdrop, "we finally cornered the red head away from the water," I smirked, and saw her filling in what I wasn't telling her.

"No more Victoria?" she sounded scared, and yet hopeful. "You burned her?"

I almost asked her what kind of amateurs she took us for, but settled for "No more Victoria," in my most decisive voice.

"Good," she sighed, sounding like she was setting the weight of the world down.

The she started shaking. Great, just great. Was she mad that we'd killed the leech? The thing had been _hunting_ her, she couldn't be angry that we'd protected her, and the rest of Forks, could she?

"What's wrong?" I tried to make my voice even.

"You could have been hurt! You could have been killed," she shrieked, starting to breathe faster. The hand that wasn't tucked in mine began traveling up my arm, across my chest; brushing my neck…what was she trying to do to me?

"Honey, I'm fine. My pride is a little wounded," I told her, hoping to get her to stop the beautiful torment. She looked at me with a question in her eyes. Of course, Bella wouldn't see worrying about my safety as an assault on my abilities. "You don't think I can take a bloodsucker?" I chortled darkly, and understanding flashed across her face.

"Jake, it's not a matter of you not being _able_ to. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Hey," I bumped her shoulder, "That's why we have a Pack, and hunt them together. We've got each other's backs, I promise." She nodded, looking almost convinced.

After a few minutes I dropped her hand, intending to wrap an arm around her shoulders, and her small hand chased after mine. I pulled her close, and took a deep breath. _Just rip the band aid off_, I told myself. Knowing, either way, had to be better than this. "Bells, if you want to forget last night ever happened, just say the word. I know it was a hard day for you, and-"

She answered quickly. "I don't. But the thing is Jake," I stiffened at her _but_, those never ended well. She pressed closer, slipping an arm around my stomach. "I'm not the same girl you dropped a truck off to a year ago."

It all came back to the bloodsucker, didn't it? I knew she wasn't the same, and that she didn't think she'd ever be the same, but if she'd just give me a _chance_…"Look, I know you don't think you'll ever get over him, but I could be _good_ for you," I told her, aware that I was begging.

"Jacob, you're better than just 'good'." I was startled. I hadn't seen that coming. "I've let them go, all of them." Or that, really hadn't seen that coming. Dreamed about hearing those words, sure, but I'd begun to wonder if she'd ever actually say them. "It's not a matter of getting over him; he left a hole, and you've healed it. I guess I just held on to Edward," I couldn't help flinching at his name, "because he was gone, so he couldn't inflict any_ more_ damage. And I know you would never intentionally hurt me, but you're here and you _could,_ Jake, and it scares me. If I lose you, who do I have left to run to?"

"Bella, honey," I pulled away and stood in front of her. My hands seemed to find hers all by themselves as I stared into her big, scared eyes. "I will always do _everything_ in my power to be right here by you. Okay? If I'm not here it's because I'm dead or you've sent me away…and don't expect the latter to work without a long fight. I don't care what it is or when it is, now or in fifty years, I want to _always_ be the one you run to."

She looked like she was about to cry. Crap.

"Honey, do you understand?" I pulled her closer, hoping it would help.

"Yes," she nodded, and it brought her mouth that much closer to mine. We had almost complete privacy out here, and it was almost too much to bear, having her so close. Her fingers stirred in my hands, sliding between my own larger fingers, and she slid them up my chest quickly, before she teased the nap of my neck. I couldn't stop looking at her eyes. She was staring at me with, I was certain, all the trust contained in the world. I loved this girl, more than anything else in the world. She _was_ my world.

"Kwop kilawtley," I whispered, needing her to hear it, but not wanting to scare her off. I barely brushed my lips over hers, as my hands gripped her waist. She was small and petite, mouth warm under my own as I trailed my hands up her ribcage.

She pressed closer, and I responded, kissing her harder as her fists tugged my hair. Her bottom lip slipped between mine, and I nipped it before slipping inside at her gasp. I'd never kissed anyone before, girls hadn't interested me before Bella came, and no girl could compare to her after I re-met her, and I hoped I wasn't messing it up too badly. I anchored her to me with both hands on the small of her back, all worries about my competency lost in a haze of love, growing to lust.

I would _not_ scare her off, or make her think I wanted more from her than these kisses. Everything I did, I did to make her feel safe again, to take care of her. I felt like someone had poured concrete around us as I struggled to pull back from her, but I did, and tucked her head on my chest as I held her.

It finally occurred to me that the longer we were gone, the more the guys would talk, and I knew shy, private Bella wouldn't appreciate that, so I told her, "We should head back," and her forehead wrinkled in confusion, so I explained, "They'll already be merciless when we get back."

"Oh, okay," she agreed, but stayed with her arms wrapped around me.

"Bells, you gonna walk?" I thought it was kind of funny, if anything she'd nestled closer.

"Eh, I guess," her voice was lazy and slow.

"Or I could carry you…" I teased, thinking that would get her moving, but she surprised me yet again.

"If you don't mind," she murmured, looking up at me through her lashes, like a tired child.

She fit in my arms so well, and with her hand curled around my neck, I felt the urge to walk at a snail's pace, just to keep her there longer. She'd let go of the leech, said I'd healed her. She'd let me hold her and kiss her. I was over the moon as I walked along the beach with her pressed close to my chest.

I thought she'd fallen asleep when she said, "Hey Jake?"

"Yeah Bells?"

"What does 'Que quowle' mean?" she horribly mangled the Quileute words, and I smothered a smirk. She was so cute sometimes.

"You mean kwop kilawtley?" I was hoping that if I said it enough, she'd realize what it meant, that the sounds, and the inflection, would trigger something deep in her subconscious. Or say it back. English or Quileute, I didn't care. I just wanted to hear those words coming out of her mouth.

"Yes, what does it mean?" she persisted.

I hesitated. Was it too early to say 'I love you'? I was worried she wasn't ready, not mere moments after our first kiss. "It's a Quileute term of endearment, Bells," I settled for, and pulled her closer. Maybe in a few months…who was I kidding, I'd be lucky to last a few weeks before telling her.

She pressed even closer. "Oh. That's nice." I smirked. Of course she did. I'd make a wolf girl of her yet. But she wasn't done talking. "I like it; kwop kilawtley," the smug expression slid right off my face at her mumbled words, and I felt my chest tighten. A fierce wave of protectiveness washed over me. She was the center of my universe, and I loved her. I knew I'd spend my life by her side, protecting her and doing everything in my power to make her happy.

_A/N: So, there's Jake's POV. What did you guys think? Too long, too similar to Bella's POV since it covers the same timeline? Let me know! Your reviews/faves/alerts make my day ^_^_


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